IT Manager - Production Assurance

Sony Pictures Entertainment is a leading creator and distributor of entertainment products, services and technology. Our global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home video acquisitions and distribution, operation of studio facilities, development of new entertainment technologies and distribution of filmed entertainment in over 67 countries.

 

The Production Assurance Manager is an experienced Information Technology professional who uses deep industry knowledge to assist in the planning and execution of IT projects to support a predictable IT environment. He/she will accomplish this through working with IT divisional and regional support groups and project managers, architects and enterprise engineers to assess and size customer requirements into standardized IT hardware solutions. This function will assist with capacity planning by working with regional and enterprise groups to maximize utilization of current available infrastructure while ensuring the capacity pipeline accounts for the requirements of all projects currently in planning phases. This position will maximize cost efficiency by working with architects and enterprise teams to validate sizing of solutions and will work with procurement to validate vendor pricing.

The Production Assurance Manager will work with IT Project Services group and project managers during the project development lifecycle (PDLC) to review production assurance requirements and ensure that enterprise groups are involved at the appropriate times and levels during the PDLC. This position will oversee and validate the standardization of pre-production activities with a goal of minimizing the impact of project-related issues for both the project and enterprise groups as the project prepares to launch into the production environment.

The position will support the configuration management process by working with procurement, international and enterprise teams to insure that all new hardware brought into the SPE environment is appropriately entered into the CMDB as per pre-established requirements. This position will also identify key metrics and process improvements for configuration management through their work with projects during the PDLC.

This position will report to the Director of Global Change and Configuration Management. Additionally, this position will also support the Vice President of PEAQ during project inception phase to work with enterprise teams on capacity assessments and budgetary quotes if required for project planning.

Key responsibilities are:
• Manage Production Assurance Process.
• Work with Project Services Office and project managers to provide assistance to application and enterprise teams as they navigate through the production assurance process as part of the overall PDLC and Change Management process.
• Work with enterprise teams and GSD and EIS Command Center in particular to validate that support documentation and training is provided by projects in a timely manner prior to project go-live.
• Raise the visibility of production assurance issues to the Senior Staff and IT leadership by providing meaningful and relevant reporting on a regular basis.
• Coordinate entry of all new SPE IT hardware into CMDB to conform to established requirements.
• Support the organizational Change Advisory Boards (CBAs) by providing Production Assurance assessments and validation as projects prepare to go live.
• Establish process measurements, metrics and reports that enable the implementation and continuous improvement of the Production Assurance process.
• Assist the director in the further development of departmental functions.


Principal Duties and Responsibilities
The job's most essential functions and responsibilities.

1. Production Assurance Management - Oversee the Global Production Assurance process for all IT projects and pool-related enhancements. Develop and report metrics to IT Leadership. Provide education on production assurance to the IT organization. Specifically, coach IT resources in order to build organization wide awareness of the benefits of this process.

2. Reporting / Capacity Planning - Work with enterprise teams to ensure that capacity requirements for projects are documented and tracked through the PDLC for each project. Develop and report metrics for enterprise groups as well as IT Leadership to provide details for planning and budgeting for future projects and capacity.

3. Process Improvement - Identify, develop, streamline and institutionalize standard production assurance process improvements to support the overall change management practices, processes, and methodologies adopted by SPE IT.

Certification/Licenses: ITIL Foundation Certificate required, Practitioner preferred

Knowledge
• Solid understanding of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework and methods with a concentration on Change and Configuration
• Working knowledge of application development methods and tools
• Deep knowledge of change and configuration processes, techniques and tools
• Strong understanding of Incident, Problem and Release Management activities
• Strong understanding of the Global Infrastructure environment and application dependencies

Skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills; comfortable dealing with a large span of people from executive management to business analysts; strong relationship management and negotiation skills
• Strong critical thinking and problem solving skills
• Strong communication skills - verbal, listening, written, and presentation
• Strong planning skills

Experience
• 6 years of hardware sizing and solutions experience within the IT industry
• Experience managing technical teams to assess all requirements for hardware sizing and hardware solutions
• Experience managing vendors and understanding product lifecycles to determine useful life expectancy
• Hands on experience with change and configuration tools and techniques
• Experience within the entertainment industry a plus
• Prior experience working with the Remedy ITSM tool a plus, especially Remedy ITSM 7.0

As a global leader in creativity and innovation, Sony Pictures Entertainment draws upon the diverse backgrounds and perspectives or our workforce for continued success. Our respect for employee differences and focus on employee development encourages a progressive and rewarding work environment.

 

To be considered for this position, you must meet the minimum qualifications as described above and forward your resume online at www.sonypicturesjobs.com under Req#700674, IT Manager -Production Assurance .

 

Sony Pictures Entertainment is an EE/AA/E. No telephone calls please.